Regular quarantine inspections by the Department of Agriculture and Food have recently detected exotic insect pests on fruit, vegetables and flowers brought into Western Australia.
These include two detections of ‘inchworm’ caterpillars on cut flowers from commercial flower growers in Victoria and raspberries from Tasmania.
Mango seed weevil was found in a mango brought in from Sydney which was seized at the Perth Domestic Airport and weevils detected in Queensland sweet potatoes that were inspected prior to sale at Canning Vale markets.
The items were fumigated and the mango was destroyed.
“Quarantine WA works hard to prevent the introduction of exotic pests, diseases and weeds found in other states and territories of Australia,” Department Agricultural Resource Risk Management executive director John Ruprecht said.
“These three pests are significant and could damage WA’s cut flower, fruit and vegetable growing industries if the pests became established in our state. Our team at the airport and Canning Vale markets are to be commended for their vigilance, as these pests are not easy to detect.”
Quarantine WA inspected over 143,000 plant lines from interstate during 2012-13 and almost 42,000 kg of quarantine risk material to the State.
“The quarantine team was protecting WA’s $6 billion agricultural industries which export about 80 per cent of production overseas,” Mr Ruprecht said.
“Our enviable biosecurity status reflects our strict quarantine and freedom from major animal and plant pests and diseases which give us access to high value markets throughout the world.”
The mango export industry exports about $1 million of fruit each year but is steadily increasing and WA has 66 per cent of Australia’s cut flower industry, exporting about $3 million of mostly native flowers annually.
The sweet potato weevil is a serious pest and could decimate entire crops in the ground or in storage, with losses reported of up to 97 per cent of the crop.
The weevil-infested mango was intercepted from a passenger by detector dog Charlie Brown at the domestic terminal. Mr Ruprecht said that the team was to be commended for the weevil detection which could be difficult to detect as there was usually only a small blemish on the fruit’s skin.
Media contact: Jodie Thomson/Lisa Bertram, media liaison +61 (0)8 9368 3937